“I knew someone had to take the first step and I made up my mind not to move.”

I have spent over half my life teaching love and brotherhood, and I feel that it is better to continue to try to teach or live equality and love than it would be to have hatred or prejudice.

Whatever my individual desires were to be free, I was not alone. There were many others who felt the same way.

I’m tired of being treated like a second-class citizen.

To bring about change, you must not be afraid to take the first step. We will fail when we fail to try.

That was a difference between black slaves and white indentured servants. Black slaves were usually not allowed to keep their names, but were given new names by their owners.

It takes more than one person to bring about peace – it takes all of us.

God has always given me the strength to say what is right.

I talked and talked of everything I know about the white man’s inhuman treatment of the Negro.

I had no idea that history was being made. I was just tired of giving up.

I would like to be remembered as a person who wanted to be free, so other people would be also free.

You cannot always control the powers-that-be. You just have to have faith and stand by the things you believe in.

One person can change the world.

Each person must live their life as a model for others.

When I see the leadership roles black women are taking today I am very encouraged.

My only concern was to get home after a hard day’s work.

Many whites, even white Southerners told me that even though it may have seemed like the blacks were being freed (by my actions) they felt more free and at ease themselves. They thought that my action didn’t just free blacks but them, too.

Rome has grown since its humble beginnings that it is now overwhelmed by its own greatness.

The sun has not yet set for all time.

You just have to play it cool. You don’t want everyone to know you’re an amateur.

The moment we begin to fear the opinions of others and hesitate to tell the truth that is in us, and from motives of policy are silent when we should speak, the divine floods of light and life no longer flow into our souls.

What do sad people have in common? It seems they have all built a shrine to the past and often go there and do a strange wail and worship. What is the beginning of Happiness? It is to stop being so religious like that.

Love has three kinds of origin, namely: suffering, friendship and love. A human love has a corporal and intellectual origin.

When a mean wretch cannot vie with another in virtue, out of his wickedness he begins to slander. The abject envious wretch will slander the virtuous man when absent, but when brought face to face his loquacious tongue becomes dumb.

There must be a remedy even for such a crying evil as this [abortion]. But where shall it be found, at least where begin, if not in the complete enfranchisement and elevation of women?